Shloka 2.114.4
अयोध्याप्रवेशः — Bharata Enters Ayodhya and Perceives the City’s Desolation
अल्पोष्णक्षुब्धसलिलां घर्मोत्तप्तविहङ्गमाम्।लीनमीनझषग्राहां कृशां गिरिनदीमिव।।2.114.4।।
alpōṣṇakṣubdhasalilāṁ gharmottaptavihaṅgamām |
līnamīnajhaṣagrāhāṁ kṛśāṁ girinadīm iva ||2.114.4||
It seemed like a thin mountain stream—its water scant, hot, and churned; its water-birds scorched by heat; its fish and crocodiles gone, leaving it dried and impoverished.
(It appeared) like a lean mountain-stream with scant, hot and turbid waters, with scorched aquatic birds and with small and large fishes and crocodiles dead due to the heat of the Sun.
The verse conveys that when dharma’s sustaining presence is removed, life-affirming rhythms collapse—like a stream drying up—teaching that moral order nourishes society as water nourishes nature.
A descriptive simile portrays Ayodhya as depleted and lifeless after Rama’s exile, comparing it to a dried mountain stream under harsh heat.
Rama’s life-giving leadership is implied: his absence is depicted as ecological-like depletion, emphasizing his role as the kingdom’s sustaining force.